Tucson Mayor Regina Romero’s Celebrates State of the City At Her Second Inaugural

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero began her second term in office with a celebratory State of the City Inaugural Address that highlighted the Mayor’s gratitude to her family, staff, and members of the City Council for seeing her agenda through, showcased the many programs and initiatives instituted in her first four years, and previewed her expectations for 2024.

Please start watching the Mayor’s address at 1:12.

The Mayor began her address thanking her family for their support and saluting the City Staff and Council Members’ efforts to see her agenda through during her first four-year term. She also thanked the residents of Tucson for their vote and support of the programs she and the Council proposed.

Among the note-worthy passages were:

“I want to thank my husband, Ruben Reyes, the first Dude of Tucson, my children, Emiliano and Luciana, my mother, my sisters and brother, my entire family…Thank you to my colleagues: Council Members Lane Santa Cruz, Paul Cunningham, Kevin Dahl, Nikki Lee, Richard Fimbres, and Steve Kozachik. I am proud of the work we have accomplished the last four years and look forward to the work we have yet to do to make sure Tucson continues to be the safe, equitable, resilient, thriving desert city with opportunity for all. I’d like to thank my team at the Mayor’s Office, the City Manager, Michael Ortega, and the entire City of Tucson Executive Leadership Team. TOGETHER, we work to make sure Tucsonans are well-served. Finally, thank you to the voters of Tucson. Your participation in local elections, in our democracy, is so important. Thank you for electing me again, for entrusting this Council, to continue to take bold steps to lead Tucson Forward in the right direction.”

The bulk of the address went through a laundry list of public policy accomplishments the Mayor and the City Council, with the help of staff and Tucson’s residents put forth in Ms. Romero’s first term.

These public policy areas focused on:

• “Climate & Protecting Our Water.
• Infrastructure and Roads.
• Housing Affordability and My Working Family Agenda.
• Investing in our Children and Youth.
• Community and Public Safety”

Among the accomplishments, the Mayor cited in her address were:

• The remodeling of the 911 communications center and the revamping of the 311 call service for non-urgent social needs.
• A 75 percent reduction in violent gun crime.
• Expansions in affordable housing.
• Adopting the Tucson Resilient Together Climate Action and Adaptation Plan which includes the hiring of the city’s first Chief Resiliency Officer and the use of federal grants to fund a clean energy bus fleet, the creation of green spaces, the conservation of Lake Mead water, and dealing with PFAS in the local water supply.
• The Transform Tucson Initiative which has seen “the launch of Arizona’s only Green Bank which will administer $250M for low-income residential solar for Arizona residents.”

The Mayor ended her address pledging, with the assistance and support of Tucson residents, to continue the work started in her first term, stating:

“In 2024, we will focus on our work on:
* Building Safe and Vibrant Neighborhoods.
* Fighting Climate Change
* Creating Affordable Housing for Everyone
* Improving Our Quality of life through Our Parks,
Roads and Infrastructure
* Securing Safe, Clean water
* Attracting Good Jobs With Good Pay For All”